


A journey of a thousand miles

by nishanightray



Category: IDOLiSH7 (Video Game)
Genre: Fluff, Humor, M/M, Other Characters Are Mentioned, POV Alternating, POV Third Person, Poly Relationship, Romance, polyzool, zoolweek, zoolweek2019
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-10
Updated: 2019-03-18
Packaged: 2019-11-14 22:25:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 12,225
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18061304
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nishanightray/pseuds/nishanightray
Summary: ŹOOĻ-centered story collection, mostly fluff, humor & romance. and bantering. like, A LOT of bantering.1. (not) a happy bunny | Animals: zoo2. the pot calling the kettle black | Bonding3. everything in its place | Day Off: pajama party4. like herding cats | AU: cats au5. a safe pair of hands | White Day: sweets6. be still, my beating heart | Torao's Birthday: celebrations7. a journey of a thousand miles (begins with a single step) | GrowthThey were the most selfish, troublesome individuals he’d ever dealt with, but Touma loved ŹOOĻ. And he was absolutely determined to make it work. Step by step.





	1. (not) a happy bunny

**Author's Note:**

> it's finally here!! i really want to take part in this. i love ŹOOĻ with all of my heart (and they all love each other. you can pry the polyzool tag from my cold dead hands). since i'm extremely biased towards them, and we've got a lot less content in game compared to others, i'm not 100% sure they'll be in character. i tried my best to stick to what we canonically know, though!  
> i'm gonna try to switch POVs from one story to another but idk what i'm doing!! and also, english's not my mother tongue, so i'm sorry if there're mistakes!

The rabbits were cute, even more than he remembered. Still, Haruka hesitated before reaching towards them; first, he looked around himself, guarded, just as cautious as them. Sitting there like a five years old  made him a little nervous (also because there were almost only families with children in the fence. He found it irritating, so his eyes didn’t linger too much on any of them), but at least it was still less embarrassing than coming here on a scholastic trip and having to witness Izumi Iori’s meltdown as he had been swarmed by tiny, soft bunnies.

It was so easy to get their attention – as soon as he slowly crouched on the ground, it only took a moment for the rabbits to surround him. They nibbled at his clothes, pushed their little heads against his hands. Haruka finally allowed himself to pet them and feel a little happy because they _were_ as fluffy as they looked.

“Whoa, they sure all over you!” Touma sat right next to him, crossing his legs and leaning over to watch the rabbits climbing on top of his lap. Haruka immediately ducked his head to hide the happy smile on his face, because he still felt a little conscious about looking too childish.

“Hmph. They must know who’s in control here. Smart ones,” he said, as smug as he could muster with two rabbits sitting on top of him and nuzzling his hands. Touma laughed at his remark.

“Dunno if they’re smart. They’re cute, though,” he said, then turned around and waved at the other two members of their group. 

“Are you sure you two don’t want to come here?” He shouted. Haruka followed his gaze to spot Torao and Minami sitting on the same bench, at least ten meters away from the fence.

Torao ignored them at first; then, seeing how Touma kept calling them in such a loud voice, he lowered his sunglasses a bit and stared at them. “Do I look like someone who sits with rabbits?” He asked.

Touma stared back, then shrugged.

“I wouldn’t know. We can try making you sit with tigers, if you’d like.”

“Well, I don’t want my clothes to get dirty, so no thanks,” Torao replied, impervious to sarcasm as usual. After a short pause, he added, almost petulantly, “I’d like to see tigers, though. I’m bored. And I can’t move—” He stopped and just vaguely  gestured at Minami. Haruka realized, then, that Minami seemed to be literally sticking to him, using his large back as a shield to hide himself.

“Unacceptable. Absolutely unacceptable.” Minami sounded absolutely outraged, his eyes burning like fire as he stared at Touma and Haruka as though they’d literally stabbed him in the back. There were few things that could rattle Minami like that. 

“I will never familiarize with those… those things. This is unacceptable. I trusted you and you brought me right to the lion’s den.”

Touma looked at him, thoughtful for a moment, then asked, “So, if there were rabbits in one room and a lion in another, and you absolutely had to choose one, what would you—”

“A lion would be way more preferable to these little spawns of Satan,” Minami interrupted him, giving him a pointed look that meant he didn’t want to be contradicted. Unfortunately for both of them, however, Torao seemed to lack any survival instinct in these matters – he usually just said whatever he wanted, unbothered or unaware of consequences (like that time he actually got himself stabbed with a pen and somehow lived to tell about it. Haruka still had nightmares about it).

“Wait. I thought you said Re:vale’s Yuki was the spawn of Satan. So, which is it?” Torao said, still looking fixedly at Minami, with absolutely no intention of changing the topic. Minami frowned deeply, as if he’d just heard the worst news. Just as he opened his mouth to answer, though, Haruka interjected:

“Well then, if there were rabbits in one room and Re:vale’s Yuki in another, and you had to absolutely choose one, where would you go?”

They all stared at him. Minami stayed silent.

“Ah, he’s having trouble with this one,” Touma commented, genuinely curious. Minami glared at them all, then dared to spare a glance at the rabbits scattered around them. Finally, he sighed.

“Are we done here? I want to go see the reptilarium,” he complained.

“Well, I want to see the tigers. Can we just go?” Torao added. “We’ve been here for ten whole minutes.”

“Can’t help it. Today it was Haru’s turn to choose what to do on our date,” Touma said, matter-of-factly, and shrugged like he didn’t care, though his eyes had those kind of sparkles they always had when he was happy, or when he showed affection. Haruka looked away as soon as he realized that they were all staring at him, waiting for his response, since he’d got the leadership today.

“Do you like rabbits that much? I can buy you one. I can buy you a mountain full of rabbits,” Torao suggested, and no one could tell if he was actually serious. “Then, Minami can go to visit you and overcome his fear of—”

“Please don’t. Really. Don’t even put my name in the same sentence with them,” Minami cut him off firmly, his face and voice devoid of any emotion as he stared into an empty space.  

“I-I don’t like them _that_ much!” Haruka protested, but didn’t pout, because that would have been terribly childish and he wasn’t childish. At all. He was mature and could choose to do whatever he wanted, thank you very much. “It’s just that last time I was here, I wasn’t able to enjoy it! Those IDOLiSH7 guys are exhausting! I couldn’t relax one bit!” He complained.

He was so heated that he didn’t realize what he was implying until he glanced at Touma and found him grinning from ear to ear.

“So, you can relax around us?” He looked so proud and so happy and so dumb, that Haruka found himself completely vulnerable. There was no way he could put up any defense at all. No one would actually believe Touma didn’t care about them – on the contrary, the guy cared way too much…

“I-I guess. No need to sweat on these little things,” Haruka muttered, feeling his cheeks burn. Touma’s smile grew impossibly larger. He was about to make another remark, Haruka just knew it and was already prepared to slap his hand on Touma’s mouth to avoid any further embarrassment because he already wanted the ground to swallow him up—

And then their moment was promptly interrupted, _of course_ , because Minami and Torao seemingly couldn’t stand being ignored for too long.

“I want to see the reptilarium.”

“I want to see the tigers!”

“ _Shut up!_ ” Touma stood up so fast that rabbits scattered around him, unnerved by the sudden movement, and then they got kicked out of the rabbit fence because they were too loud. Still, Haruka thought he couldn’t complain too much about how it went. He would reserve his sharp tongue for when Torao would finally find the damn tigers.

 


	2. the pot calling the kettle black

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yet, it was somehow fun to see Touma play the ambassador for them. He always put himself in the front line, for some reason, even though it was a lost cause – this “bonding” thing was not their forte, to say the least. It didn’t matter to Touma; Minami felt that he was simply very kind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> day2: Bonding
> 
> idk what i was thinking when i decided to write in minami's pov orz

“ _Go home!!_ ”

Haruka’s voice was firm, rough, though his shoulders were slightly trembling. His cheeks and ears turned so red that he really looked like he was on the verge of exploding. Honestly, Minami believed that would have been quite troublesome - they really didn’t need Haruka screaming his lungs out in a school corridor, not when a large crowd of students had already gathered to see what was happening. Sure, they did dress up in order to avoid public attention, but it was still unavoidable to notice a guy like Torao, especially since he _loved_ public attention.

“Haru, don’t be like that! It’s just bonding, _bonding_ , alright?”

Yet, it was somehow fun to see Touma play the ambassador for them. He always put himself in the front line, for some reason, even though it was a lost cause – this “bonding” thing was not their forte, to say the least. It didn’t matter to Touma; Minami felt that he was simply very kind.

“It’s not like we came just to make fun of you!” Touma said, but his attempts to calm down Haruka seemed completely fruitless. In fact, the boy glared at him fiercely.

“Yeah?! Then tell Torao to stop snickering! And to stop taking photos, damn it!!”

“Man, you’re wearing a skirt,” Torao shrugged, wearing his usual lax grin, “A maid cosplay, nonetheless. I can’t   _not_  take photo.”

“That’s exactly why I didn’t want to tell you guys. Give me that!” Haruka whined and tried to jump at Torao to take the phone out of his hand. Torao laughed and raised his arm up high, effectively putting the phone out of Haruka’s reach – quarreling just like children. Haruka also didn’t seem to understand than jumping up and down doesn’t really help your cause when you’re wearing such a short, frilly skirt. The maid dress he’d been forced to wear had got way too many ribbons to be even remotely comfortable. It actually looked kind of good on Haruka, since he was thin and had a pretty baby face, but it was still funny. Minami mutely thanked heaven he’d never had to take part in school festivals and things like that.

When Haruka turned to him looking for support with teary eyes, Minami showed him a smile.

“You look quite cute,” he said, because he’s not so kind to let Haruka go without at least one comment like that, and also because it was payback for dragging him to the zoo and forcing him to spend time a mere ten meters away from _rabbits_ (two weeks had already passed, but Minami just wouldn’t forgive him for that). Still wearing an easygoing smile, he patted him on the head.

“Unfortunately for you, it looks like Inumaru-san has good sources, so we found out pretty quickly,” he explained, softly laughing at the way Touma’s expression quickly turned smug and proud, like he was saying ‘hah, how’s that?!’, though it wasn’t really that impressive. “It just so happens that Inumaru-san follows IDOLiSH7’s Nanase-san on social media. Since there was a photo of your classmates at a school festival, we did our math and came here.”

“Yeah, and since you didn’t tell us _at all_ , we wanted to see it even more,” Touma said.

At that, Haruka hissed something that suspiciously sounded like ‘ _fuck off_ ’. Torao put down his arms for a moment, wearing the most affronted expression Minami’d ever seen in his life.

“Hmph. So that’s how you knew? I can’t believe you follow _them_ , but not _me_!”

Touma looked back at him, totally unimpressed. “Of course. You just post photos of yourself.”

“If you were born with such good looks, you gotta share. Well, not like you can understand.”

“It’s just _annoying_!” Touma bite back, “Mine’s much more interesting! Right, Mina?!”

“Well… I just think your social media really reflects each one of you perfectly.”

“In other words, you both suck,” Haruka clarified. Torao furrowed his brown and opened his mouth, undoubtedly about to say something really petty; however, right in that moment, Haruka quickly reached for his phone, seemingly wanting to take advantage of the situation to turn over the tides. Unfortunately for him, Torao was just as quick to notice and swiftly put his hand out of reach again. Haruka gritted his teeth, his cheeks as red as tomatoes, and hissed, out of breathe, “Damn IDOLiSH7!”

“Oh, c’mon you don’t have to talk dirty about your friends just because they got themselves butler costumes while you got stuck with the maid skirt. It’s so immature,” Torao grinned, fully knowing this would annoy Haruka more. The boy decided then to try a different kind of approach and started kicking at his ‘annoyingly long legs’, to quote the way he put it.

“Immature? Look who’s talking,” Touma muttered, rubbing at his own forehead as if this would stop a headache from coming. Minami smoothly moved to stick to his side and leaned over to get a good look of his face.

“I was sure you’d tell them to stop. They’re attracting quite a lot of attention… How troublesome.”

“Are you kidding? Trying to teach some manners to these guys is like screaming into the void,” Touma shook his head, then peered back at his face. “Anyway, Mina, you look like you’re enjoying yourself. You’re smiling.” He seemed somewhat relieved. Minami blinked, surprised – now that Touma said it, he realized that he _had_ been smiling a lot. He felt nice and relaxed and was truly having fun. _Unbelievable_ , maybe this ‘bonding’ thing was going to work out, after all... However, he decided to keep the thought to himself.

“Oh, I got some good photos, too,” he said instead, his smile as radiant as cryptic. Touma looked at him for a long moment, then sighed out loud.

“Ah, right… Even Mina’s quite troublesome, after all… This group’s manners are really over the place, huh.”

Minami simply laughed at the honest remark. He was really looking forward to Haruka finding out about it.

 

 


	3. everything in its place

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> day 3 → Day Off: pajama party 
> 
> Well, it didn’t cost him anything to be a nice host. It was even kind of fun to catch pieces of their conversations now and then – like Haru explaining to them rich boys what an instant ramen was and Tora whispering, “That’s horrible”, a little appalled.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> after reading chapter 4.3 translations, i wanted to give touma some love bc he's the bestest boy ever and he deserves it. i firmly believe no one could have ever touched these dumb boys' hearts except inumaru touma

“Do you live in a _basement_? Is it safe?” Haruka frowned, his expression and tone of voice fully expressing that he disapproved his choice of living. He glared at the low windows, perhaps wondering if any burglars would come in during the night.

Minami quietly followed Haruka in and let out a soft sigh as he took in the inside of the house for as far as he could see. “Wow, it’s the kind of house where you have to take off your shoes… I’ve never visited a house like this. Poor people sure are interesting,” he commented, slightly intrigued – or downright sarcastic, it was difficult to say when it came to him. He swiftly slipped out of his shoes and stepped on the floor in socks only, smiling openly at Touma.

“Your door is so small, Touma,” Torao complained as he blatantly leaned down to avoid hitting his head against the door frame. As he carefully slipped inside, he pointedly looked at Touma, as to make his point even clearer.

“Stop _nagging_!” Touma snapped back, finally losing his patience at their commentary. “Haru, Tora, if you haven’t got anything nice to say, then shut it.” Haruka shifted his glare from the windows to him. Torao blinked at him, unmoving. He didn’t even take off his shoes. _This fucker_.

“You didn’t say anything to him, though,” he said, pointing at Minami, who was standing right next to Touma and smiling innocently, unconcerned. “He’s just called you poor in a roundabout way.”

“Well, Mina took off his shoes, at least,” Touma said, unimpressed, “And why are you telling on him? Are you six?”

Though he didn’t seem satisfied, Torao begrudgingly slipped out of his undoubtedly expensive Italian shoes.

Minami laughed softly. “I didn’t mean to be rude,” he said, “I’m always full of admiration for our leader, of course.” Touma glanced at him nervously.

“You know, the fact that I can’t tell if you’re being sarcastic or not makes me go crazy.”

“Oh, do I occupy that much space in your thoughts, Inumaru-san? I’m flattered.”

Touma stared at him. Minami stared back, unflinching, with a smile. So Touma gave up.

“Well, whatever. Give me your jackets, I’ll put them away,” he said.

“That’s nice,” Minami said, “Do you have a coatroom? Even though the flat is this small?”

Touma opened his mouth to defend his perfectly-alright flat, but Haruka spoke over him, “Of course he doesn’t. But I guess I’ll give you mine anyway. Take good care of it like a nice host, hmph.” He took off his jacket and held it out to him with a triumphant smile – he seemed to like the idea of bossing him around just because they were his guests. His eyes were shining a bit, betraying that there were also feelings of happiness hidden under many layers of attitude. Haruka was still waving his jacket under his nose, so Touma took it from his hands. He’d let him have it his way for now, just because he was being a little cute – a thought that it was probably better not to voice.

“Here’s mine, too.” Minami pushed his sand-colored long trench in his arms, then turned to Torao, who was still standing in the doorway, wearing his tartan coat that matched his tartan pants. Haruka glanced at him, too, and raised an eyebrow as he looked him over.

“Aren’t you taking him up on the offer?” Haruka asked. Both Minami and him seemed genuinely curious.

“Yeah, aren’t you?” Touma echoed him. He turned completely towards Torao and held out his hand to him, encouraging him to give the coat to him, but his gesture seemed to unnerve the guy further.

“No. I’ll take care of it myself, since Touma clearly doesn’t care enough about me,” he said, petulantly, and glanced away, his lips slightly curled into a pout. They all got the message all too perfectly. Haruka and Minami looked at him, then at Touma, and he knew already what they wanted to say and, most of all, what Torao wanted him to say. He sighed. _Really, why me?_

“Okay, I get it. I’m sorry I snapped at you, Tora. Will you give me your coat, now?” Although he attempted to soothe him as patiently as could, Torao pointedly looked away. Touma looked at the others, but only got the same encouraging looks as before – if a look that says, ‘ _It’s your fault and you ought to make it work_ ’ could even be considered encouraging. Touma cleared his throat awkwardly and added, “Please?”

At that, Torao visibly relaxed. “Well, if you insist so much,” he said, not bothering to hide a victorious smile as he started unbuttoning the coat. For a moment, Touma actually thought he had won – that is, until he noticed Torao was taking an eternity to undo the buttons one by one, completely on purpose. _Little shit._ His eyes weren’t even focused on what he was doing. He was staring right at Touma, looking incredibly pleased with himself. It was a challenge, one Torao clearly was sure he’d win, given that he never lost to anyone. At least apparently, there was no one in the high society he lived in that could make him beg. Except, this was not high society.

He gripped a fist in his collar and roughly pulled him forward. “I insist,” he grumbled, then took his lips without any warning, tasting sweet victory as he heard – _felt_ – Torao making a sound against his mouth. Touma smiled against his own better judgment, because he was kissing Mido Torao and he was winning. To think Torao was supposed to have tons and tons of dating experience – yet he so easily _melted_ against him. He slowly let go of his coat, carded his fingers through his hair and grabbed a fist. Torao gasped softly and was about to curl his own hands around his cheeks when Minami coughed to call for their attention.

“Oh God, please don’t,” Haruka muttered, somewhere close to them, “I thought we were having dinner! You’re making me lose my appetite.” He nudged at Touma’s side to make him listen. Since dealing with Minami and Haruka’s lowkey jealousy was _a pain_ , Touma complied and pushed himself off Torao.

“I don’t think so. I bought cake,” he said, a little embarrassed at his voice, which came out a little rough. Haruka actually regained a bit of interest at that. Touma smiled and turned to Torao again. “As for you, you’d better take that coat off now, or I will,” he threatened. Torao coughed and attempted to smile seductively, though his dishelleved hair and pink lips betrayed he didn’t have any control over the situation.

“I’d like to see you try,” he said anyway, because he was _like that_.

“I’m sure we’d all like to,” Minami said, “but I want to have dinner too. Inumaru-san, are you going to cook for us?”

“I thought we were gonna order out. I only have instant food right now.”

Minami and Torao stared at him as though he’d spoken another language. “It figures,” Touma muttered. Haruka sighed and took out his cell phone. “So, what are we going to have? I’m searching it up. Huh, what about _soba_?”

“Over my dead body. I heard it’s Yaotome Gaku’s favorite or something. I’m not having what _he_ has,” Touma grimaced at the thought. Haruka nodded as though it all made perfectly sense, then decided to choose for all of them. When he found what he wanted – a simple, traditional Japanese restaurant with nice reviews and a rather elaborate menu for _desserts_ – he passed over the phone to Touma, apparently still taking advantage of the fact that he was the one who invited them and they were his guests. Touma sighed, then took notes of what they wanted and made the call. Well, it didn’t cost him anything to be a nice host. It was even kind of fun to catch pieces of their conversations now and then – like Haru explaining to them rich boys what an instant ramen was and Tora whispering, “ _That’s horrible_ ”, a little appalled.

“Done,” Touma finally hung up and gave the phone back to his owner, then sat on his leather sofa and stretched his arms and legs. “What do you guys want to do while we wait?”

“I don’t really know,” Minami said, eyes quizzical and a hand under his chin. “What do people usually do at ‘pajamas parties’? Unfortunately, I’ve never been at one before, so I wouldn’t know.”

Touma blinked, perplexed. “What, really? What about Tora?”

“Never been to one before, either. I’ve been to many expensive, formal parties, though.”

“No one wants to hear about that,” Haruka immediately perked up.

“I bet Haruka’s never been to a party, like, ever. Since he doesn’t have any friends,” Torao teased him relentlessly. As if on cue, Haruka’s cheeks turned pink.

“Fuck off,” he muttered, then nervously glanced at Touma. “I-Isn’t a ‘pajama party’ something little girls would enjoy, anyway? Why should we have one in the first place?”

Touma sighed and stared at them, exasperated. “You know… You guys sure are complicated. Just enjoy it, whatever you think it is or it should be.”

“I’m not complicated! It’s just that you come up with really _dumb_ ideas!”

“Well, Isumi-san, although you’re complaining so much now, you sure seem excited about it,” Minami pointed out, apparently calm but just as ruthless as ever.

As Haruka blushed and started blabbing excuses, Torao laughed at him, “That’s right. You even brought your backpack. I bet you didn’t sleep yesterday night because you were so busy packing your dinosaur pajama and your toothbrush.”

“I don’t own a dinosaur pajama! And anyway, _you_ brought the bigger bag out of everyone! What the hell did you put in it?!”

“I’m glad you asked,” Torao grinned. Haruka started to regret it as soon as he started to zip open his bag, revealing the contents. Touma would admit he was a little curious, although he was sure at least half of it would be completely useless. Naturally, Torao started by pulling out his cream-colored pajama.

“My, Mido-san, is that _silk_? How elegant,” Minami commented with a smile. Torao nodded smugly, as if it was nothing special at all. Touma’s gaze didn’t linger too much on it; he’d never wore silk in his life and, to be perfectly honest, he didn’t suffer from the loss. Haruka grabbed Torao’s sleeve and stared at it.

“Isn’t it… uncomfortable?” he asked, perplexed.

“It’s not. I sleep like an angel with this on.”

“I don’t think you actually do, but if you really look like an angel when you’re sleeping, it’s only because you finally _shut up_ ,” Haruka said, unimpressed, then started pawing through the contents of the bag like a curious raccoon. “There are so many creams and beauty products in there, _ew_.”

“Excuse me, self-care is not a joke.”

“Whatever. Is your toothbrush made of gold or something?”

As they kept on bickering between themselves, Touma slowly lost interest and stood up to rummage through his own things. He had some DVDs, music CDs, maybe even some type of card games... Though he often teased them, especially Haruka, about it, he didn’t have any ‘friends’ at the moment, either. He liked to think these guys were his friends and comrades – well, you never knew, though… He’d allowed himself to think like that of others before, and look how it had ended.

Someone suddenly touched his shoulder, making him flinch. Touma lifted his face and found himself staring right into Minami’s eyes. He had come to stand beside him again, without him noticing at all.

“Inumaru-san, you were making a complex expression. Something on your mind?” He asked. Touma knew it was probably no use trying to lie to him, so he attempted a weak smile.

“I, huh, I was just thinking I haven’t had anyone over for a while, that’s all,” he said, unwilling to go into details since it still hurt quite a bit. But Minami was still staring at him, as if demanding something more from him, so Touma shrugged and added, “Maybe we aren’t friends, not really, but I still want you all to have fun, if anything.” He tried to sound as neutral as he could, though he’d admit that Minami staring so hard at him was making him slightly unnerved.

Finally, Minami sighed. “Really, Inumaru-san? Isn’t it too late to ask yourself such questions? Of course we aren’t friends. I thought that much was obvious, but you must be pretty thick-headed,” he said. Touma felt his stomach sink; however, as soon as he opened his mouth to voice his disappointment and indignation, Minami cut him off by softly pressing his lips against his own. It was very brief, like the touch of fluttering petals, but it was enough to make his heart jump in his throat. As Minami ended the touch, he tilted his head and pressed a finger against Touma’s mouth, as though silencing him with a kiss hadn’t been enough.

“We aren’t friends, Inumaru-san,” he said again, though this time it sounded slightly different. The corners of his mouth perked up a little as he leaned over to him and whispered into his ear, “It’s quite unfair to only kiss Mido-san like that, you know, Inumaru-san. So I’m just taking back something of mine as well.” Touma felt like his own face was literally on fire.

“Hah!!” Haruka’s voice made him snap out of his thoughts. Touma turned around to look at him – he was convinced their bantering was still ongoing, but it looked like they stopped as soon as they noticed Minami and Touma whispering to each one in a corner. For some reason, Touma thought, Haruka looked quite mad. His suspicions were only confirmed as Haruka quickly dropped everything he was doing, crossed the room in large strides and caught him by the hem of his shirt. At that, Minami took a step back, still smiling, as though Haruka murdering him in his own living room was such a good idea.

However, Haruka seemed to have other plans. He pulled him onto himself, forcing him to lean down as he crushed their mouths together. Then the storm passed - Haruka let him go without even giving him the chance to kiss back. He stared at him in outrage mixed with a considerable amount of self-confidence. Touma opened his mouth to comment on it, then thought better of it and simply sighed.

“...this group is really overflowing with personality...” he said, and they all shrugged and stared at him as though it went without saying it and no one got a problem with it. And honestly, Touma got none either. He found himself smiling before he knew it.

 

 


	4. like herding cats

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Day 4 → AU: cats au
> 
> “Napping together in the sun? You guys are so close,” Torao teased, physically looking down on them from his sitting position. Haruka stuck out his tongue at him eloquently. His nap time had been so rudely interrupted. Touma rolled his eyes at their childishness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> torao → maine coon. since his owners are suuuper rich, he lives in a big mansion and only owns expensive things, like expensive toys, hairbrush, etc.  
> touma/haruka → not purebreds; stray cats. touma was born in the streets, expelled from his territory and came across this city by chance. he found haruka who was abandoned and ‘adopted’ him. haruka’s one year old now, the youngest.  
> minami → ragdoll. prettiest cat around. his owner is quite wealthy, so he lives a life of leisure. calls them all by name + -san

Stretching and rolling down onto his stomach, Haruka let out a loud yawn. He enjoyed nice, clear days like this, as it meant he could laze around in the sun as long as he wanted do – he absolutely loved the feeling of the sun warming up his fur. Yeah, he could easily do this all day. Someone moved beside him and soon he felt the warmth of another body touching his. He opened one eye, nervously, but was filled with relief at once as he found himself staring at Touma’s disheveled reddish fur.

He sat still as Touma pawed around, as delicate as he could as to avoid waking him up, unaware that he already did. Finally, Touma seemed to find a comfortable position and sat down sticking to his side, his clipped tail smoothly wrapping up around them. For a moment, Haruka considered the idea of pretending to sleep, so that he could snuggle into Touma’s warmth without embarrassing himself too much; however, he couldn’t stop his own tail from twitching as he felt his rough tongue running upon his head.

“Hey!” He meowed at once, pushing a paw in Touma’s face and glaring at him. “I told you to stop doing that. Touma, you’re like a mother…”

Touma blinked at him, then shook his head, letting Haruka’s paw fall.

“Whose your mother?!” He snapped back instinctively, then added, more softly, “Sorry, did I wake you up?”

“Not really. I’m always vigilant and dangerous.” Haruka glared at him even more as Touma breathed a laugher through his nose.

“Right. I though this dangerous kitten was simply relaxing in the sun,” he said, clearly unconvinced. Haruka chose to ignore his remark and went back to his nap, though it was not the same – he was mildly annoyed at Touma and his mother hen attitude. He always watched him, as though he believed he’d get lost or something if he didn’t keep an eye on him. Honestly, Haruka was one years old already; he wasn’t just the abandoned, lost kitten that Touma had found on the side of the road and took under his care. If anything, he felt like someone like Torao needed more help than he did – since he was often way too careless and laid-back about life. Haruka felt like he could protect Touma now too, if only he’d let him…

“What?” Touma meowed quizzically, and only then Haruka realized he’d been staring at him the whole time. He quickly turned away and muttered, “Nothing… I was just thinking you have a weird face.”

“Hah?! Whose face is weird, huh?! You grew up so uncute!”

“Well, fine! I’m not trying to be cute anyway!”

Their bantering continued until Minami showed up. He usually came by walking on the small walls of the gardens, then jumped right on their roof, as graceful as ever. He sat right on the spot where he landed and studied his surrounding carefully, then he rolled his tail around his body and lifted his paws one by one to lick them. Only when he was finished, he started paying attention to them.

“I see Torao-san is not here yet,” he commented, apparently innocent, although a little irony could be detected in his voice. In fact, Torao _always_ arrived after Minami – he just loved to make people wait for him. Although they had both always lived in a house, Torao and Minami couldn’t be more different. Minami never got lost, wasn’t scared of dogs barking at him and had enough common sense to avoid any kind of danger. Haruka kind of admired him (but he never told him, because he would have been in for a lot of teasing if he did). On the other hand, Torao was almost completely clueless about how things were outside his own world. Sometimes he had arrived so late at their little meetings that Touma had gone to pick him up because he was afraid he’d got lost.

They usually knew Torao was coming from the clear sound of a silvery bell, the one that was attached to his red collar. At times, Haruka found himself being envious of him, since the bell was like a symbol of wealth and of his owners’ love – both things that Haruka never really experienced in his life. Torao liked that bell enough to make a lot of noise on purpose; lately, though, he had stopped doing it as soon as he was with them, as though he had somehow realized Haruka’s feelings. Haruka didn’t know whether he had picked up on it on his own, or Minami and Touma had told him, but it didn’t matter to him. As they heard the silvery sound resonate in the clear air, their ears and tail twitched and their gaze immediately shifted to the point from which Torao usually appeared. He lived in the opposite direction from Minami’s, up on the hill that stood over their city – his family’s mansion was so big that they could see it from every roof.

A few seconds after they heard the bell, right on cue, Torao jumped on the roof. Unlike Minami, he walked towards them as soon as he spotted them, his fluffy tail lazily moving up in the air. Torao had so much fur that on windy days Haruka found it hilarious (he also made a great pillow, though).  Without waiting for anyone to invite him, he sat right beside Touma, almost hitting him in the face with his tail.

“Hey! Be careful with all that fur!” Touma protested, wrinkling his nose like a bunny, but didn’t move away. He never seemed to mind how Torao always seemed to stick by his side. Haruka didn’t really know how they all met each other; the three of them already knew each other by the time Touma had picked him up from that horrible card box that stunk of mold. Likely, there weren’t any special stories behind it. Touma simply moved around a lot, since he’d always been a stray.

“Napping together in the sun? You guys are so close,” Torao teased, physically looking down on them from his sitting position. Haruka stuck out his tongue at him eloquently. His nap time had been so rudely interrupted. Touma rolled his eyes at their childishness.

“Whatever, duh. But I’ve got news I wanted to share with you guys!” He said, suddenly sounding enthusiastic. His words immediately caught their attention, and the three of them looked at him, waiting for him to continue. Touma put on a smug expression. “A festival is coming to the city! I’ve heard the humans in the market talk about it. There’s gonna be roasted squid and other delicious things. I was thinking we could go all together! Haru, you’ve never been to one before, right?”

Haruka quietly shook his head. He didn’t even know what a roasted squid was, but Touma announced it so happily that it sure sounded mouth-watering. His tail started moving up and down without him fully realizing. “Is there gonna be some nice food?” He weakly meowed. Touma nodded vigorously.

“A lot!” He said, and Haruka felt like he was in heaven already. He still didn’t know what a festival was, but he liked the idea of getting to taste some delicacies he usually couldn't afford.

“Haha, Haruka-san looks so excited. How cute,” Minami said, almost gently. “But I don’t know… I’m kind of curious myself, but I don’t really like such crowded, loud places.”

“You guys are way too enthusiastic. It’s just a festival!” Torao huffed.

Haruka was starting to feel a little disheartened. Touma sighed.

“Why do you guys have to be always so difficult? You always make it so hard for me,” he complained, but didn’t give in to them. He turned to Minami first. “Mina, we can just grab something to eat and then sit in a quieter place. How’s that?”

Minami seemed to consider the idea for far more than necessary, but finally nodded. “Hmm, if you say so, Touma-san… I suppose I can give this the benefit of the doubt and come with you.”

“I can’t believe you changed sides so easily, Minami,” Torao said. Minami didn’t seem to mind his rudeness in the least, instead choosing to strike back at once.

“Torao-san, you seem so against the idea, but aren’t you actually the most excited out of the four us? Your tail’s betraying you,” he said, eloquently glancing at the fluffy tails slapping the ground like crazy, to the point that Touma almost got hit by it again.

“What, so you have never been to a festival either, Tora?” Touma asked, looking up at him. “Then, all the more reason to come with us! Don’t be so difficult for once!”

Seeing how Minami had managed to back him up into a corner, Torao didn’t try to defend himself, but rather he glanced away and deflected the topic altogether.

“Hmph. If you insist that much, Touma, I guess I’ll come with you, too!” He muttered. “For now, though, I just want to relax and laze around, okay?” He started pawing around Touma’s body to find a comfortable position to sit; finally, he ended up curling around him perfectly, placing a paw across his back, his muzzle on Touma’s neck. He closed his eyes, breathing softly while they all watched him in confusion.

Touma was the first to snap out of it and huffed, apparently amused. “You’re so dishonest,” he said, “If you wanted to take a nap with us, you could have said so right from the start, you know?”

“I didn’t say it, you did,” Torao grumbled, without opening his eyes. Touma shook his head.

“Well, the weather’s really good. Mina, come here too,” He glanced towards Minami, who seemed to hesitate a little. Haruka lifted his head and called out to him, too, “Minami! Don’t leave me alone these two!”

Finally, Minami gave up. “If it’s just for a little while, I suppose it’s fine,” he sighed out as he stood up to reach them. Haruka watched him as Minami came to sit close to him, warming up his other side. He felt completely surrounded –it was far more comfortable than it had been before. Before Haruka even realized it, their warmth and soft breathing had already lulled him into sleep, and he dreamed of delicious food and silvery bells and colorful days and festivals he couldn’t have ever imagined before meeting the three of them.   

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "like herding cats" is generally used to refer to a difficult or impossible task, typically an attempt to organize a group of people. the way it seems to exist to describe touma & ŹOOĻ makes me crack up.
> 
> this has been requested to me by kobattsun, so i give her credits for every single "he meowed" i had to write while dying bc they cute.


	5. a safe pair of hands

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> day 5 → White Day: sweets
> 
> Haruka didn’t answer; at least, not with his words. Unwilling to let go of Minami, he quickly fumbled with the pocket of his jacket and pulled out something that looked like cookies. Unlike the cake, they hadn’t been put into a shopping bag, but simply wrapped in a plastic bag with a ribbon. Haruka abruptly trusted them into Minami’s chest, his eyes casted down as though he couldn’t bear looking at him in the face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> idk why i still try my hand at minami's pov when i'm clearly unable to, but here it goes anyway. i was craving minaharu for some reason... so, it's minaharumina.

It was apparently a day like any other, except when Minami finished changing, he realized Touma and Torao had apparently already left. That sure was unusual – ordinarily, he would have found at least Touma, who often ended up late because he lost time trying to get Torao and Haruka into line. Only Haruka was still lying around in the dressing room, seemingly engrossed in playing with his phone.

Minami quietly got closer, so that Haruka wouldn’t notice him; then he leaned over his shoulder and asked softly in his ear, “What are you doing, Isumi-san?”

The response came at once - Haruka flinched and yelped, fumbling with his phone as he very nearly dropped it. He quickly put some distance between them, before turning around to glare at him. Minami could tell he was trying to keep some composure, though it was already late for that. His hears and cheeks had already turned completely red.

“M-Minami! You surprised me!”

“Oh, I can see that,” Minami said calmly, offering him smile. “Were you waiting for me, Isumi-san?” He asked, sweetly on the surface, but Haruka was not deceived. He’d been teased too many times already, lured into a trap by that sweet voice, to not know that he was teasing him. He casted his eyes down and looked away from him.

“N-not really, it’s just that Touma said…” he muttered, his voice gradually dying down, which got Minami even more curious. He felt like probing into it a little more.

“What did Inumaru-san say? Is it related to his absence?” As he said those words, it suddenly dawned on him. “Oh, is it something about tomorrow?”

Haruka quietly nodded, then let out a sigh. “Well, you know… Touma said he’d bring Torao out on a date today, so we’d have time to… arrange things,” Haruka explained.

Minami stared at him for a moment, then asked, “Hmm… So, what exactly does he want us to do?”

“He asked me to buy a birthday cake,” Haruka said, then added, somewhat petulantly, “I mean, it was my idea to begin with, but he acts like he’s the one who decides everything!”

Minami put a hand to his chin, thoughtfully thinking this over. “So, in short, Inumaru-san will get Midou-san distracted, while we’re supposed to buy a cake, did I get this right?” He said quietly. Haruka nodded. Honestly, Minami didn’t quite get why their centers were making all that fuss – he didn’t understand why a birthday cake was necessary at all - but he didn’t have any other plans.

“Well, it’s fine with me. Do you have any idea how to buy it, Isumi-san? Should we go to a _konbini_? I’m afraid I don’t know much about sweets, but you love them, right?”

“…I don’t like sweets that much, but _I guess_ I know of a good place.” Haruka still looked somewhat embarrassed, for reasons that Minami didn’t get. And he was getting very curious about it, but he decided to wait and see – it was likely he was about to find out the reason soon, anyway.

“Then, please be my lead, Isumi-san,” he said. He find it surprisingly easy to give him a real smile as he watched Haruka’s eyes light up, happy to have someone rely on him. Things like that reminded him that Haruka was still kind of pure.

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Arrrgh, that Touma!” Haruka complained loudly, “He’s been messaging me non-stop! Stuupid, I’ll tell you when it’s done, so stop! So annoying!” Still muttering under his breath, Haruka answered about three texts from Touma, all asking for progress on their ‘mission’, his fingers typing as fast as lightening. Minami watched him amusedly and chuckled.

“Oh my, Midou-san is not going to like it if Inumaru-san ignores him to text,” he commented, earning a nod of approval from Haruka. They all knew just how fussy Torao could get if ignored, which was why Torao and Touma together made quite an explosive mix. Touma’d never been good at picking up on the mood, while Torao was _extremely_ moody - you had to be ready to go through an emotional rollercoaster if you wanted to get closer to him. Usually, Minami would have thought it was too much of a pain, so it was surprising to realize it didn’t bother him all that much anymore. Feeling slightly uneasy, he looked out of the taxi window, so that Haruka would not see his expression.

He didn’t want to admit it, but it seemed that he’d softened up quite a bit because of them, and he’d be lying if he said it didn’t unnerve him. They weren’t even supposed to be friends. They weren’t supposed to be people he cared about enough to miss them if he lost them. Minami had been through enough to know how dangerous it was to get too attached and he'd never been one to put his heart in the hands of others.

“Huh, Minami? Why are you moving so far?” Haruka’s puzzled voice made him snap out of his thoughts. That’s how Minami realized he had indeed moved away from Haruka, pressing himself into the car door and leaving an unfairly wide space in the middle of the seats, as if unconsciously putting distance between them. Like that’d help. Since he’d been thinking about Torao and Touma even if they weren’t there, he could tell he was already at a point of no return.

“Haha. I wonder?” He tried to laugh it off, “I was simply lost in thought...” Haruka didn’t look very convinced. At times, he could being annoyingly perceptive, so Minami quickly smiled and changed topic.

“Anyway, we’ve come quite far, haven’t we?” He lightly commented, “I’m guessing you have a very specific place in mind, Isumi-san. Ah, were you searching it up online, earlier? That’s cute of you.”

“What about it?! Stop teasing me, geez. It’s common sense to search it up online before you go in person!”

“We could have ordered it online, if that was the case,” Minami said, still smiling, but this time a bit more genuinely, “Instead I’m getting the feeling you _really_ wanted to go there in person.” He chuckled as Haruka blushed a little and muttered, _So what_ , clearly embarrassed. But, as he glanced out of the car window, his gaze suddenly lighted up.

“Ah, we’re here,” he said, and quickly told the driver to stop wherever possible.

 

 

 

 

 

 

“... _font chocolat_ ,” Minami read the shop’s name quietly, wondering if he’d heard it somewhere before. He wasn’t familiar with sweets shop, though. On the contrary, Haruka looked like he was living the dream - his eyes had been glued to the shop windows since they arrived, as though he’d been hit by a spell. It didn’t even look like he was having a hard time deciding; he was simply taken by the sight. As minutes passed, Minami just really wanted to get this thing done.

“Look, Isumi-san. I’m just going to go in,” he said, but as soon as he moved Haruka snapped out of his daze and grabbed his sleeve. “W-wait. First, I need to check the coast is clear,” he said, his voice so serious that it made it sound like a life or death matter. However, Minami was quickly running out of patience.

“Clear of what, exactly?”

Haruka glanced around nervously, fumbling with his hands. “My… my classmates. This shop belongs to a classmate of mine, well, to his family at least.” He paused, unwilling to volunteer more information. Minami stared at him for a long moment before it finally dawned on him. He’d read somewhere before that someone in IDOLiSH7 had a sweets shop. It all made sense now – that was why Haruka’d been so nervous all the time.

“That’s ridiculous, Isumi-san. Please go in and choose a cake already,” he said, merciless. “Aren’t you quite close with those kids, anyway? It should be fine. C’mon.” Before Haruka got to complain, he grabbed his arm and pushed him inside, then closed the door behind him. As Haruka turned to him with a panicked look, Minami simply smiled and waved his hand at him through the glass door, mouthing at him to go.

He watched as the boy finally gave in and approached the candy counter, still cautiously looking around, as if he was afraid his classmates could show up anytime to tease him. For all his whining, though, it seemed to be going smoothly – there was no sign of IDOLiSH7 anywhere, and Haruka got served by a kind-looking middle aged woman instead. Minami allowed himself to space out a little, thinking he wouldn’t have been much of help anyway. He didn’t get many birthday cakes, after all. His mother had soon dropped that childish tradition, claiming that grown up boys shouldn’t give that much importance to birthdays, anyway. Minami didn’t care enough to contradict her; by the time it had happened, he’d stopped caring about pretty much everything. He still didn’t think much of it, he was simply going along with it because he had nothing better to do… probably.

Minami turned around as soon as he heard the door opening, finding himself face to face with Haruka as the boy nimbly slipped out of the shop. He was holding an orange-colored shopping bag and looked quite proud of having completed the task without any accidents.

“Oh, it seems they wrapped it up quite nicely,” Minami commented, lightly. “Are we done, then? Should we go home?” He turned again, but stopped as Haruka grabbed his arm.

“Wait, Minami, there’s something else,” he said.

“Oh, really? What is it?”

Haruka didn’t answer; at least, not with words. Unwilling to let go of Minami, he quickly fumbled with the pocket of his jacket and pulled out something that looked like cookies. Unlike the cake, they hadn’t been put into a shopping bag, but simply wrapped up in a plastic bag with a ribbon. Haruka abruptly trusted them into Minami’s chest, his eyes casted down as though he couldn’t bear looking at him in that moment.

Minami stared at the sweets, then at Haruka, highly confused. “...why?” He simply asked after a while.

Haruka huffed. “I thought you were good at reading people. Don’t make say it.”

“Oh?” Minami smiled a little. “It’s not my fault you’re being so out of character, Isumi-san. Sorry, but you’re going to have to spell it out for me.” He leaned down to get a good look of his face, and Haruka turned away, blushing.

“Well, I just… Since they’re having a date… let’s have a date, too, Minami,” he said, then frowned as he mumbled, “I mean, isn’t it unfair? Even though it’s White Day.”

Minami blinked and looked down at the cookies once more.

“Oh, so that’s what it is. Fine, let’s go on a date, Isumi-san. Although I guess we’ve already been out by ourselves for a while today… Well, I’ll accept this, then.” He finally took the cookies from Haruka’s hand, then added, teasingly, “You know, Isumi-san, I would have never thought you’d make a move on me. You’re unexpectedly quite forward, even though you’re the youngest.”

“Don’t tease me! You’re only two years older than me, anyway!” Haruka huffed, mildly irritated, but Minami could see he was also happy that he’d accepted the gift. Such a simple person.

Ah, today he was really feeling unlike himself. He really didn’t have any plans to be soft on him. He’d been taken off guard. To say the truth, the feelings that filled up his chest were warm, and a bit painful.

 

 

 


	6. be still, my beating heart

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> day 6 → Torao's Birthday: celebrations
> 
> Later, as they opened the cake, Torao swore to himself that he was probably in an alternate universe, because there was just no way this was real.  
> “So, I thought you said you didn’t buy me any gift.”  
> “Right. We didn’t. A birthday cake is not a gift, it’s plain common sense,” Haruka huffed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this directly follows day5/White Day, "a safe pair of hands"; it takes place on the day after.  
> i wrote this a few days before reading dusty love's rabitv spoilers, so i'm not overly confident about it. so let's just say this is an alternative version of the canon celebrations (?). this is my take on it.  
> i'm also not super confident about torao's pov, but i tried my bestest anyway BC I LOVE TORAO. my beautiful precious son who deserves to feel real warmth

To Midou Torao, the world had turned grey a long time ago.

He wouldn’t be able to pinpoint the exact moment it happened. It might have been when his father told him he didn’t need to help his own family, or when he strongly opposed his desire to go on trip. His father, his family had always treated him like a flower in a glass box – through that thin, smothering barrier, he’d witnessed the world losing its brilliance. To put it simply, it all was the same to him. There wasn’t good or bad, right or wrong in this world – everything existed purely out of self-interest. People were like that, too. He’d gradually unlearned what could make him happy and what couldn’t. It was all the same, in the end.

Torao’s world had been bright and warm the day before, when Touma had unexpectedly dragged him to Usamimi Park for a date, just the two of them (he was rather flattered, to be honest), but it turned back to grey and cold as soon as they went separate ways. So, the world was grey when Torao woke up on his birthday. Honestly, he didn’t really expect anything original from it. He barely glanced at the expensive flowers that adorned his king-sized room and at the gifts piling up in front of his door. Nothing new, really. He left the house without any second thought and called for a cab, taking his own time although he was late as hell. Minami and Haruka  usually showed a mild irritation at his habit to always arrive late, while Touma got really angry. Touma always reacted strongly, even to things that shouldn’t matter.

Later, though, as he approached Touma's front door, he noticed it was weirdly quiet. Usually, you would have heard their bickering as soon as you got close enough – Haruka and Touma were, after all, especially loud. Torao frowned and stopped playing with his phone to double-check the hour. He was about half a hour late, so they should have been already there. He then double-checked the date, because one never knows. His frown deepened, but nonetheless he rang the bell and waited, impatiently tapping his foot while his eyes remained glued to the phone screen.

A few seconds later, the door opened abruptly and a loud, deafening noise struck him for a moment. Colors literally exploded in his face. Torao squeezed his eyes shut, instinctively taking half a step back, and raised his hands to protect himself, clenching his phone tightly. Only as things seemed to have calmed down, he dared to slowly open his eyes and stared at his groupmates, absolutely stunned.

“Whoa, look at him. He’s totally speechless. Loser,” Haruka smirked. Talk about a warm welcome.

“Alright, I’m late, but no need to kill me...” His voice died in his throat as took in the sight of colorful confetti and streamers scattered all over the doorstep. Torao just _knew_ they were all over him, too. And in the midst of all this chaos, Minami, Haruka and Touma stood with their hands full of confetti poppers... which kind of explained everything.

“If confetti poppers were a worthy weapon, I’d go to Kujou’s house to tell him happy-fuckin-birthday every day,” Haruka said. “Also, if we had to kill you every time you showed up late, you would be already dead since long. You’re not actually late today, though.”

“What?” Torao blinked at him, his brain apparently unable to come up with some smarter comeback. He was having troubles catching up to the whole situation, actually. Haruka huffed, refusing to give any explanation, while Minami just laughed at him.

“Midou-san, I didn’t think you’d have such an innocent reaction.”

“Yeah, it’s unexpectedly cute...” Touma reinforced, almost struck and a little lost, as if he'd been hit on the head or something. His expression then morphed in a suspiciously smug grin. "Well, it was worth it planning for it, then!"

“…was this your idea?” Torao finally asked, his voice low and hoarse. His chest inexplicably filled with warmth as he watched Touma’s smile grow into an ear to ear grin. 

“You bet it was!! And it was a great success! I actually thought of giving you the wrong appointment time to make sure you'd come  _early_ , how’s that?! Smart, right?!” Touma looked absolutely proud of himself. He looked happy, no, even more than that - he was almost _glowing_. Torao was almost blinded by his smile. and really didn’t understand what was going on anymore, to the point of barely registering Minami clapping his hands to their leader.

“That’s incredible, Inumaru-san. You are slowly learning how to tame Midou-san.”

 “Hehe, I know, right?!”

“It’s actually quite smart, coming from Touma…” Haruka said, bratty even when impressed.

Touma smacked his head lightly. “The last part was totally unnecessary!” He said, then looked over at Torao and finally seemed to notice that there was still no answer from him. His smile fell and his brow furrowed. “Huh, Tora? Are you okay? Were you _that_ shocked?” He asked, puzzled, almost worried.

Torao didn’t answer him, but slowly lifted a hand and put it on his own chest, grasping at the shirt. That warm feeling was still there, eating him up from inside. He didn’t dare to give it a name. “…it’s painful…” he mumbled, keeping his gaze down because he didn’t want to look _innocent_. Minami was wrong; someone like him couldn’t possibly still hold any innocence.

“Hey, Tora! Look at me! What hurts?!” Touma quickly came closer – too close for comfort – and out both his hands on his shoulder, lightly shaking him. Torao sighed, then finally looked up.

“You. You’re so unbelievably _painful_ ,” he said, trying to put as much sarcasm as he could in his voice, the only form of self-defense he had left. Finally, he put away his phone and started dusting off confetti and streamers from his own clothes. “So, what’s up with this cheesy setting?”

“It’s not _cheesy_! It’s normal, you asshole!” Touma gave him a long, judging stare. Torao ignored him.

“What, did you guys want to celebrate my birthday _that_ bad?”

“Oh, so you do remember what day it is. You looked so surprised that I’ve been wondering if you had forgotten all about it, Midou-san,” Minami smiled. “Don’t worry though, we didn’t prepare any gift. We’re not that kind of group, after all. It’s just that the idea of popping these in your face was so delightful.”

“Yeah, your dumb expression was totally worth it,” Haruka quickly agreed, happy that he wasn’t the one being teased, for once. “Ah, but wait, I’ve learned something good at school today. Give me your hands.” Then, without waiting for an agreement, he grasped both of his hands.

Torao looked at him, vaguely interested, but started squirming as soon as he realized Haruka was _painting_ his fingers blue with make-up. “What the hell?” He asked, staring at the boy like he was crazy. What did they teach kids at school these days? Haruka looked quite proud with his work, though.

“It’s the Fox’s Window!” He explained, making a window with his fingers, “They said if you paint your thumbs and forefingers and then use them like this, you can see wonderful things through them!”

“What, that’s cool. Do my fingers, too,” Touma said, extending his hands to Haruka. Torao thought it was dumb, but Touma and Haruka evidently didn’t. Only Minami watched them quietly, seemingly thoughtful.

“I don’t think it actually goes like that, though?” He said, raising an eyebrow, quizzical.

“Oh, Mina, you know about this, too?”

“Yes, it’s from a rather famous short story. But, as I recall, it isn’t like Isumi-san said. You don’t see ‘wonderful things’ from the fox’s window. Rather, what you’re supposed to see are things from the past, that you yearned for,” Minami explained. Haruka blinked at him, apparently confused.

“Heh, is that how it is?” He asked. Minami nodded.

“Indeed. How are your grades at school, Isumi-san?”

“S-shut up! They are good!” Haruka pouted, his cheeks rapidly turning pink at the other’s implicit jab, causing Minami to laugh at him and lightly comment, “I wonder. By the way, Isumi-san, the cookies were good. I’ll make sure to give a return gift next year.”

“What? Haru, did you give Mina a gift for White Day?” Touma asked, surprised, his mouth slowly curving into a grin. Haruka blushed deeper, but he didn’t deny it, instead turning to Minami.

“You didn’t need to tell him!”

“Oh, was it supposed to be a secret? But you were so bold, Isumi-san. It’s a shame the others didn’t get to see such a manly side of you.”

Meanwhile, barely paying attention to their bickering (flirting?), Torao was still staring at his blue fingers, as though trying to understand the appeal of it. There was nothing from his past that he yearned for, or rather, he didn’t dare to think about it, so his window would always remain empty. There was no point in looking back at things you lost once you lost it – even more so if they were things you never really had in the first place. He would only ever see a gray world.

“Hmm, well, leaving that aside… I kind of get the point of that fox story, but isn’t it fine anyway?” Touma said, cutting through Minami and Haruka’s back and forth and Torao’s dull thoughts at the same time.

Torao looked up and saw Touma gazing through his fingers, as though it was a real window, or a large camera lens. He was smiling in such a tender way that it made Torao wonder what he was actually seeing. It made him wish he could see that same view, too. Just as that thought crossed his mind and disappeared, like a falling star, Touma put down his hands and grinned at them.

“I mean, all I see from this window is you guys,” he said and, really, what a cheesy idiot he was.

Torao huffed a laugher, then he tried forming the fox’s window with his thumbs and forefingers. It seemed that Touma was right, after all. What he saw was the blue of his fingers and the green and black of their costumes and the colorful confetti scattered everywhere and, in the midst of all that chaos, them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Later, as they opened the cake, Torao swore to himself that he was probably in an alternate universe, because there was just no way this was real.

“So, I thought you said you didn’t buy me any gift.”

“Right. We didn’t. A birthday cake is not a gift, it’s plain common sense,” Haruka huffed.

“I’m used to at least three-tiered cakes, though. There are no candles either.”

“Shut up, you damn rich boy. Don’t sweat the small stuff.” Touma rolled his eyes at him. Torao kept staring at the round, cream and strawberries covered sponge cake, like he didn’t believe that they actually went through the trouble to buy him a cake and confetti poppers, even if it was just to harass him.

“Midou-san, you look embarrassed. Did we manage to touch your heart, then?”

“…you remember that conversation? It was so long ago. Forget it.”

“So you are embarrassed. You’re being so pure today, that’s surprising. I guess it was kind of worth it putting our best efforts into buying the cake. Right, Isumi-san?”

“Although I did most of the work! Well, anyway, it’s not really a gift if we eat it too, right?” Haruka said, apparently nonchalantly, but his eyes betrayed that he was really eager to eat it. Touma laughed.

 “Well, should we cut it?” He suggested.

“…let’s.” Torao nodded slowly. It suddenly came to his mind that Touma had planned even their date in order to make it possible – that Minami and Haruka actually went along with it to make it possible. Ordinarily, he'd be offended that they hid this from him, but the fact that the three of them worked together for his sake... Well, that was _really_ flattering.

“I’m going to eat it,” Haruka claimed, then quickly stole a strawberry from the top because _he had no manners_ , as Touma promptly said (the soft light in his eyes, though, betrayed his fondness). He leaned over Haruka’s shoulder, closely monitoring the cut of the cake, as to be sure that he wouldn’t cheat and cut himself a bigger slice (which totally happened anyway). Minami stood on Haruka’s other side, looking at them with the softest smile Torao had ever seen on his face. Taking advantage of the fact that they weren’t paying attention to him, Torao stared at them longingly, feeling warmth spreading through his body once again. The blue paint had been washed away hours ago, yet he indulged into a sudden urge and raised his hands, put his thumbs and forefingers together and looked through the window. The world he saw didn’t look gray at all.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the Fox’s Window (Kitsune no mado) is a short story written by the contemporary Japanese writer Awa Naoko. it was published in 2010 in the fairytales book of the same name.


	7. a journey of a thousand miles (begins with a single step)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> day 7 → Growth
> 
> They were the most selfish, troublesome individuals he’d ever dealt with, but Touma loved ŹOOĻ. And he was absolutely determined to make it work. Step by step.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> these last days have been pretty hectic and i'm tired af but i finally got to write the last chapter!!!  
> they're possibly far softer than intended but sorry what can I say.......i'm biased, i love ŹOOĻ like they're my own children 
> 
> i'd also like to say thank you to the people who made this possible by organizing the ŹOOĻ week. i really had a lot of fun, it felt good to write about them and spread the love. thanks!

All he saw as he opened his eyes were  _lights_  – a dazzling sight that left him blinded for a moment, forcing him to squeeze his eyes close again and then blinking slowly to try and get used to the brightness. He realized, then, that they were not spotlights, nor light sticks. He wasn’t on stage, though he’d been so sure he was there just moments ago. He was stepping on a large stage – _alone_. It was such a cold, dark stage. The tension left him breathless and, even now, he was still catching his breath.

Touma was still trying to get his head around the situation when a shadow fell on his face, a large hand covering his half-lid eyes. Fingers carefully pressed on his forehead, smoothing the crinkle between his eyebrows as he frowned at the neon lights. The gesture was calming, somehow, and he let out a sigh. To his disappointment, the hand stopped and was removed. Torao’s face then came into view.

“Ah, you’re awake,” he said, simply. Touma realized they were on his own sofa, Torao sitting less than a meter from him and studying his face with unhidden interest, his cheek resting on the palm of his other hand as he leaned on the back of the couch. Still unable to speak, Touma just quietly stared at his face – he would have lied if he’d said that having such a handsome face as the first thing you saw when you woke up wasn’t unnerving.

As though he’d somehow read his mind, Torao’s mouth slowly curved into a smirk.

“I know. I’m so good-looking I might be a dream, but I assure you, I’m not,” he said, a tiny hint of softness in his voice. Touma huffed and turned, closing his eyes again.

“Is that so,” he just said, his voice still gruff and rough from sleep.

“Inumaru-san,” Minami’s soft voice came from somewhere close, “I wouldn’t move too much if I were you.”

“Ah, yeah. You’ll wake up the other guy sleeping right there,” Torao agreed.

Touma suddenly realized his right side was warm, far warmer than the rest of his body, and his eyes snapped open, his thoughts racing as he turned his head slightly and a clump of azure hair tickled his nose. Haruka was apparently sleeping soundly, all snuggled again his side like a cat, blocking his right arm (which did, in fact, feel kind of stiff). Touma looked at him in awe – wondering how exactly he could still sleep through all that ruckus. He was frowning, too, so Torao reached over Touma and smoothed his brow just like he did to Touma. Doing this to others seemed to amuse him, but it was also easy to detect something akin to affection in his actions as his smile turned softer.

Touma removed his arm from where it was, slowly and carefully, as to not wake up Haruka, but the boy seemed to be sleeping like a log. Relieved, he slipped his arm _around_ his body, holding him closer. Then he looked around the room. Everything was a mess, like it always became when they spent time in his house – they always acted like they didn’t care, but they sure loved to touch his things. Touma had given up any form of resistance at this point and usually kept an eye on them just to make sure they didn’t make any permanent damage to his flat.

His eyes were slowly getting used to the neon lights. He spotted Minami not too far, sitting on a cushion on the ground, looking through a handful of Touma’s CDs. Since he’d discovered his large collection of music albums, Minami had started looking through them, taking them out of their shelves in blocks every time he came over. Although he looked like a guy who only listened to classical music like Mozart, Minami had a very diverse taste in music and was apparently able to appreciate Touma’s collection, which made him kind of happy. Touma cleared his throat and asked, “When did we fall asleep? I feel kind of guilty about leaving you guys on your own when I was the one who invited you.”  

“Oh, you can make it up to me. Anyway, I had fun looking at your sleeping face.”

“Tora, that’s kinda creepy…”

“You fell asleep right after dinner. You guys didn’t even reach the end of the weather report,” Minami said, nonchalantly, as though ignoring their exchange altogether. “By the way, it might rain tomorrow.”

Touma clicked his tongue.

“What, really? That sucks,” he muttered, “I wanted to go to the music store.”

Minami perked up, suddenly interested. “Oh, we can go by car, then. I’ve been wanting to go, too.”

Touma pretended this didn’t make his chest grow warmer. He was still wrapping his head around the thought that these guys wanted to spend time with _him_ and actually made the effort to _express_ it. They really did come a long way.

“What is it, Inumaru-san?” Minami asked him curiously, so Touma realized that he might have been staring in awe and that he still didn’t give a real answer. He then nodded and his heart skipped a beat when Minami smiled at him. It was hard to say what he was thinking, but, whatever it was, it clearly amused him.

“I look forward to see how you’ll make it up to me for today, Inumaru-san,” he said with an angelic smile. Touma sighed, knowing there was no escape route – and even if there’d been, he knew he would have given in anyway.

“So, you guys got a day off. Haruka and I, we’ll be working again together,” Torao commented as he reached to poke at Haruka’s cheeks. The boy wriggled his nose and made a soft noise, but still didn’t wake up. Touma was still amazed at it – this guy could have slept through a storm.

“Ryou seems to have taken a liking to that. He says your combo is really fun,” Minami said.

“Seriously, that guy... I don’t want to see him _every day._  Give me a break already,” Torao complained grumpily. “Even if there’s a storm out there, I wouldn’t be surprised if Ryou suddenly appeared from a manhole, like a horror movie.”

“I… can’t really say you're wrong there,” Touma muttered, then shrugged and looked up at the ceiling. “Well, we could…” He started and hesitated, staring at them in thought. He was still unsure whether they would reject him or not; it always stopped him from making invitations out of nowhere. Rejection was harsh, and he did just have that kind of dream…

Right now, though, it was not cold or dark anymore. Touma looked back at them and surprisingly found Minami and Torao staring at him almost in expectation. It made laugher bubble up in his throat.

“We could… go out all together on our next day off,” he finally said. The two of them remained quiet. Touma waited, nervous, until Minami softly spoke.

“Hmm. Inumaru-san, are you going to pay for us?” If he didn’t know him well, he would have said he was completely unaffected; yet, Touma could somehow feel how much Minami had grown weak to them, too. He was apparently still fighting against other thoughts, still indecisive and prone to put up barriers as soon as his secrets were threatened, but he was taking small steps.

“I never said I would!” Touma fired back, but Minami simply smiled at him, unbothered.

“Cool, then Touma’s paying. It’s my turn to choose the place, though,” Torao chimed in with a grin. Touma shook his head and sighed.

“C’mon, I definitely _can’t_ pay if you choose. I can’t afford anything expensive, just so you know.”

“I know that. I never said I was gonna pick something expensive. Maybe I’ll let you take me to one of those poor, narrow locals where you eat sometimes.” Although he was as rude as usual, Torao also looked kind of excited – like he was genuinely curious about going there. His eyes were somewhat shining – Touma wished he didn’t find it as cute as he did, ‘cause it made him give into him more easily than one’d think. Torao was also slowly changing, or rather, he was learning how to be himself again.

“Sure. I’ll even take you to Usamimi Park to see superheroes shows,” Touma said. Torao huffed, but his eyes betrayed he was happy and full of expectations. It was sad to see how careful they were in not showing their desires openly – though it was changing. Definitely. And Touma was proud of them for it.

“…don’t take your word back, Touma,” Torao said in a low voice, like he’d never forgive him if he did. Touma poked at his cheek and grinned.

“Of course! Who do you take me for—”

“ _Annoying_.” Just then, Haruka slightly moved against him – he grabbed his shirt with one hand and turned his face, pressing it against his shoulder. “You are so _loud_ ,” he mumbled, his voice grumpy and still hoarse from sleep. This was also new and unexpected and amazing, in its own way – Touma’d never expected Haruka to be willing to show such a vulnerable side of himself to them. To him.

“Oh, sorry, Haru. You okay?” He asked, but only received a low, muffled cry in response. Although he’d woke up, Haruka didn’t seem quite ready to come back to the land of living yet. On the contrary, he held onto Touma’s shirt tighter, as if he was refusing to let go of his sleep. Touma was relieved, thinking he must be having nice dreams for once. He unconsciously held him a little closer and Haruka slowly turned, his cheek still pressing against him, but his face finally visible – and, of course, he was frowning at them.

Torao reached over to smooth his brow again, incredibly amused. Haruka was apparently too tired to prevent him from doing so, but apparently not too much to tell him to piss off. Minami and Touma laughed at them, and Touma thought that…

“It’s really not that bad to have time off, but I can’t wait to go on stage again.” _With you_ was left unsaid, but it was clearly there. He really enjoyed the warm, hopeful looks he got back. They were the most selfish, troublesome individuals he’d ever dealt with, but Touma _loved_ ŹOOĻ. And he was absolutely determined to make it work. Step by step.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i can't express how grateful I am to Inumaru Touma for existing and having such a pure, kind and warm heart bc he's exactly what ŹOOĻ needs. no wonder he's their leader ;__;

**Author's Note:**

> save haruka from iori and tamaki


End file.
